Electric recording meter



Nov. v20 1923-.

H. w. CARPENTER ELECTRIC RECORDING METER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 4., 1922 INVENTOR l JfaraZcZ W 'a/ewer ATTORNEY Nov. 20, 1923.

llllllllllllllllllllll fllllllllll IIHIIHIIIII ELECTRIC RECORDING METER H. W. CARPENTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 NEY e -Inv many systems of, charging'for electric of the average` power factor of the consumers load over., a given period, as well `as `of the consum? In determining theaver- Patented Nov'.A 2o, i923.-

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE.

HAROLD WAIT'CARPENTER, 0F NO-RWICH, CONNECTICUT. A t

ELECTRIC REooRnIN'G METER.

.Application led November 4, 1922. Serial N'o. 598,964.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD W. CAR- PENTER, a citizenv of the United States of America,'and residing at Norwich, in the county of New London and) State of Connecticut, have invented newand useful Improvements in Electric Recording Meters, of whichthe following is a specification. v

power, account is taken ers demand rate'.v

' 'a'ge power factor aswell as'the demand, two

demand recording watt hour meters are employed, one of which is connected so' as to.

measure the active component or watts while vfor reactive volt the other measures the reactive component amperes of the load.. In

orderthat the power factor for any given interval may be accurately-determined, it is necessary to know the value of both/components for the same interval.

In they u sual commercial type of demand recording watt hour meter, the meter runs 'at aspeed proportional to the power passing therethrough, 1 and drives a `number of handscooperating,v with registration dials to indicate the total power consumed by the load. A moving arm also driveiiby the meter carries means such as a pen for making a graphic record of the power consumed on a movable chart such as a roll of paper. Means such as a spring` motor drives the mechanism which;` advances 'the chart and resets the pen to its zero position.' The operation of the paper feeding mechanism is Uoverned by a second spring motor which drives suitable clock work arranged l to periodi- -cal-ly permit the rst spring motor to fun'ction.V Thus two 'springmotors are employed with each meter, one to,4 supply powerV pendent meters are employed` to for moving the chart,` and the other to regu- .late-the time interval between successive operations of the first spring. lVhen two inde-v y measure different components of a load, the time of the chart advance on each meter is governed l b `its own clock spring, and' since no two c ook mechanisms run at precisely the,l same speed, the interval during which one meter records the demand will not coincide with the interval between movements of thechart `on' the other meter. vEven if the two clock.- springs of twoV meters are originallyl set to r permit the twopaper feeding movements to be made simultaneously, it is obvious that.y as the clocks run these movements will' become increasingly out of phase with one another, thereby causing'the intervals vduring which one component of the demand-is recorded to differ from the intervals during which the other component is recorded, so

that no true data as to the power factor arev` made available. from the records.

It is an important objectxof my invention to overcome provision of means for synchronizing theA time element controls rality ofl .demand 'recording meters. `Thus ing which active y-volt ampere demand is recorded by one metercan be Inadeto correspond with the intervals during which re I. w

v u"- power factor active .volt ampere demand is recordedv by a second meter, so that the true mzy be readily determined.

ig. 1 is agdiagrammatic perspective of two demand recording meters connected according to my invention, many of the parts being `,omitted'for the sake of clearness,

the foregoing diiiculties by the mechanism of a plii'- by means of my invention the intervals dur-l Fig. 2 isa similarview'on a larger scale *l Referring now to F iggil, two watt hour meters are shown in the rposition they would occupy if mounted one above the other on the usualL panel board mounting.' rThe up,

per meter may be electrically connected with paper feed mechanism in one vpol al load circuit so that its discs 6 will rotate i shaft 7' at a speed proportional tothe active vcomponent ofthe load, driving thro'u li gears 8 andl 9, worm 10, and gear 1l t e indicator gears and hands'designated ingerieral 1 2, so that by the use of the usual diais (not shown) the total tpower consumedmay- .be V,read directly 'in units'l such as kilowatt hours.'v `Parts of the lower meter corresponding to those of the upper meter will -vbe designated by thesame numerals primed, vor their reference charactersomitted so thatonly those,- parts of the lower'meter which have no counterpart in the upper meter need l carried by meshing with a gear be separately described. When the two meters are employed for the purpose of obtaining data as to power factor, the lower meter will be electrically connected to the same load circuit, but in such a manner that discs 6 will rotate shaft 7 at a speed proportional to the reactive component of the load, so that the total reactive component maybe read directly from the hands and dials 12 in units such as reactive-volt-am pere hours. The demand during each time interval is recorded graphically by the movement of a pen 13 over a chart 14. The pen is advanced from left to right across the chart, by the rotation of shaft 7, which moves pen arm 15, through the worm 16 and gears 17, 18 and 19. The shaft which carries gearf17 mounted at its rear end in the pivoted lever 20, which is held in normal position with gear 17 in mesh with worm 16 by a spring 2l. At the end of each time interval however, a trip ro/d 22 moves lever 20 to the left to disengage gear 17 from worm 16, at which time a weight 23 is free to return the pen` arm to its Zero position.

The chart 14 upon which the demand is recorded is carried on a roll 24 from which it passes over a feed roll 25 to a belt driven take-up roll 26. The chart is advanced at the end of each demand time interval by the rotation of feed roll 25, which carries at its right end a pinion .27 through which the power is applied. Power for advancing the chart is supplied by a spring motor conz sistlng of a clock spring mounted within a drum 28 which carries a large gear 29 in engagement with pinion 27. The clock spring constantly urges gear 29 in a direction to rotate feed roll 25 to advance the chart, but gear 29 is normally prevented from moving by brake mechanism consisting of a gear train and a stop pin.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, drum 28 is its right and end in a base plate 31 which is mounted on the meter casing, not shown. A journal plate 32 is secured to base plate 31 as by screws 33. An outer journal plate 34 is held in parallel spaced relation to plate 32 by posts 35. Journalled between the plates 32 and 34 are arbors 36, 37, 38 and 39 upon which are fixed the gear wheels forming part of the brake mechanism which c ntrols the turning of gear 29. Gear 29 is urged by the spring contained within drum 28 to rotate in .acounter-clockwise direction as seen inv Figs. 1 and 4, and tends to rotate clockwise a gear 40 on arbor 36. Gear 41 on -the same arbor drives gears 42 and 43r on arbor 37 counter-clockwise. Gear 43 on arbor 38 drives the same as well as a gear 45 on the same arbor. A gear 46 in mesh with gear 45 is rotated counter clockwise thereby, and turns its arbor 39 and a gear 47 carried a tubular axle 30 journalled at gear 47 has completed one revolution.

thereon in the same direction. From the outer side of gear 47 near the periphery thereof there projects a halfround pin 48, which is normally engaged by a similarly shaped stop 49 projecting from the inner face of a dog 50 pivoted at 51, as shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4. All the mechanism thus far described is alike on both meters, and is of the usual type. From the foregoing it is obvious that movement of dog 5() to the right, carrying stop pin 49 out of engagement with pin 48, will release the gear train and permit the clock spring to advance the chart 14 until the rotation of gear 47 is stopped.

To control directly the operation of dog 50 of the upper meter, there is provided clock mechanism driven by a spring within a drum 52 which is mounted on a tubular axle 53 journalled at its right end in base if vplate 31.

A large gear 54 fixed on drum 52 drives (through an intermediate gear train not shown) .a shaft 55, which constantly rotates clockwise at a speed regulated by suitable escapement mechanism located within a case 56, the escapement being driven by gear 54 through a gear assembly (not shown).`l The gear ratio between the spring drum 52 with its gear 54 and shaft 55 is such as to produce one complete revolution of shaft 55 in a certain predetermined time interval, usually fifteen minutes.

FixedYA onshaft 55 is a spiral cam 57 adapted to engage a pin 58 extending from the outer face o the heel portion of dog l50. A light spring 59 clasping the rear edge of dog 50, and wound around the collar portion of the dog with its free end bearing against the post 35, holds pin 58 in contact .with the surface of cam 57. This cam surface is so shaped that as it turns in a clockwise direction it gradually moves, the foot of dog 50 to the right, thus withdrawing the fiat face of pin 49 from engagement with the face ofpin 48, until just as pin 58 reaches the corner made by the intersection of the radial and spiral faces of the cam (the position illustrated ,in Fig. 5) pin 49 releases pin 48 and permits the spring drum 28 to adyance the chart 14. Immediately thereafter, however, pin 58 drops to the beginning of the spiral surface of the cam as illustrated in Fig. 4, and moves pin 49 back into position to stop pin 48 when The reduction ration between gear 47 and gear 29 is such as to permit the proper advance of the chart (usually about one sixteenth of an inch) for each revolution of gear 47.

During one revolution of gear 47, arbor 37 turns through ninety degrees, thus rotating two wheels 60 and 61 mounted on said arbor through a quarter turn. 'Wheel 60 carries a number of studs 62 spaced equal distances apart-about the periphery of the lll) v 50 chart movements of Y meter and thus release its gear 47 drum `28 to advance the chart 14.

l0 just outside wheel Y wheel, four Studs being` provided in the present embodiment of the invention. A bracket 63 secured to plate 34 supports one end of a pin 64 the other end of which is .5 held hy plate 34. Pivotallyl mounted on p in 64'is a lever 65 having a flat toe portion which rides ov`e`r the periphery .bf wheel 60 and is raised each time one ofthe studs 62 passes thereunder when gear 47 makes a revolution. A rod 66 is pivoted atits lower hooked end to an angle portion of lever 65 nearthe toe thereof, and at its upper end is connected to the horizontal arm of a bell-crank 67. The bell crank is pivoted to a suitable bracket 68 supported by plate'v 34. Pen triprod 22 is connected to the vertical arnr of bell crank 67 and is moved to the left thereby each/time a stud 62 passes under the toe of/lever 65. Such movevmentof .triprodrf22 resets the pen to its zero position inthe manner-previously described. If it is not desired to reset the pen each time the chart is advanced, some of the studs 62may be omitted, so that the 25 turning of wheel `60 through a quarter Iturn during the advance of the chart will be without effect. on the pen. The records Yshown on thechartsof Fig.1 would result from-the provisionxof only two studs 180 apart on wheel- 60 in which case the pen would, be reset onlyv -upon every `second movementof the chart.

V From the foregoing-description it isapparent lthat the duration" of the time in- 35 terval between successive movements of thev chartV and -resettings of the penl Iis'v con-J trolled as regards the upper meter by clocklock spring 52, while work driven fromy c j the power for these'operations issupplied 40 by spring 28. Ithas hitherto been custo- .Jmary to provide such clockwork individual to each meter to' control its timeiinterval. According to my invention, however, a single., clock is used-tocontrol the time interval for 5 any desired number of meters, the release of gear wheel 47 on the first meter by the clock driven. cam 57 operating to release thel cor-v responding wheel 47 on the next meter, `and soon for any number'. of meters the;

which it may be desi-red to synchronize. I accomplish this. by connecting some part of the power spring driven mechanism of the'irst meter tothe ,l dog` 5 0 ofthe next lower meter,s'o that movement of the spring` -drum 28 of the upper` meter will move dogof the lower to permit' In the presentembodiment I lmount a wheel 61 on arbor 37, and set four studs69 a quarter turn ,apart on the ,periphery of .said wheel 61.

pivot. a lever7()v having `a 'toe which rides over wheel 6l.. and is raised by each stud as .65 it passes under the toe. A tension spring Ondpin 64 I"- 71 hung from a bracket 80 is secured to an upturned ear at ithe rear -endfof lever to hold the toe of said lever in 'engagement with the wheel. Wheel relative to its arbor 37, and is positioned with a stud 69 normally'close to the toe of lever 70 mediately ing rotation of arbor 37 and wheel 61 will raise the toe .of lever70. To a down turned ear at the rear of said lever I\connect a 6l is adjustable- (as shown in Fig. 4) so that imdog 50 releases gear 47 the resultverticalstrip or rod 72, to the lower 'end of which is detachably secured a specially l shaped lever 73. The lower end of leverl rests on the sloping edge of dog 50 just a'bove the toe of said dog.` To maintain the lever 73 in correctfposition relativeto dog 50 I strike two "lugs l74 rearwardly from the foot' 'of the flever, one lug oneither side of-the dog, as `shown in Figs.

y2, 3 and 4. To carry Athe forwardthrust on lever 7% A lesulting from downward pressure of theY same on the edge of dog 50', I- employia thrust block 75 secured-tothe inner face of plate 34. i Through the thrust block there vis threaded an adjustable .guide screw 76'.having a vbeveled .end which en-Q gages the edges of -a longitudinal slot: 79'

passing L cut in lever 73. fThus the downward movement of lever-73 is guided both by the screw 76 and the lugs 74.

In operation, my connectingy levers frelease dogr50 within a fraction of a second of the release of dog 50,-since stud 69 in passing under lever70 (upon the` operation of dog 50 by cam 5,7) actuates `lever 70 to lower rod 72 a'nd thus by pressing the foot oi lever 73 against the edge of'dog 50 moves said dog to the right and withdraws pin 49 from pin 48. Gear 47 is immediatel set in motion by spring 28', so that the'ad-fv vance of the two charts 14' andl 14 is practically simultaneous.l 13 A scribed in connection with the correspond`- ing parts of the upper meter. In order to aid spring 71 in lifting rod 72 and lever 73 back. to normal position after stud 69 has passed'irom under the toe of lever 70; I employ a pin 77 on the inner face of gear 47 which `strikes a 'shar upward blow- -on'the lower edge of a iin' 8 which ,projects forwardlyfroinlever 7 3' if this fin has not already been raised out of the path of movement of pin 77 bythe time gear 47 has made a quarter revolution. Thus lever 73 is positively 're ioved from its lower positlon 1n dog 50 tojnormal position in which pin 49 will engage pin-48 to stop gear 47 after it hasc made-one complete revolution.

Awheel GOresetspen 4 of the lower meter in the manner de- `ample e to permit spring 59 to return If morev than two meters are to be con- 50 on the neXt lower meter (not shown). While it is most desirable to mount the meters for simultaneous operation one above another, obviously m/y invention is applicable to meters mounted inV any other relative position, it merely being necessary to properly shape the rods 72 or supply additional linkage to connect them to the levers 73 as may be required. It is also to be noted that the mechanisln for controlling the movements of the second and succeeding me-v ters does notimpose any strain on the clock of the rst meter, since the power to operate this mechanism is in each case supplied by the power spring 28 of the preceding meter. Not only does my invention insure simultaneous operation of the charts of any desired. number of recording meters, but it also obviates the provision of a separate clock ,for each meter, thereby considerably resequently not be advanced. continuously, but' only when there is power on the line.

While I have described one embodiment of my invention with much particularity, and as applied to one type of meter, it is obvious that numerous changes may be made in the structure, parts substituted for other parts, and the invention applied to meters in which the original time control is accomplished by means other than clocks, all without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination a meter adapted to record the active component of an electric load on a chart, a meter adapted to record the reactive component of the same load on a second chart, a chart for each meter, a sprlng motor to move each chart, and a single clock to synchronize the operation of the two spring motors.

2. In combination a plurality of electric meters adapted to record load characteristics on movable charts, a chart for each meter, a separate motor to move each chart, and a clock to govern the operation of all the motors.

3. The combination in a series of electric meters each including a metering element, a demand recording element, a movable chart to cooperate therewith, means including a source of power to advance thechart, and brake mechanism normally preventing the operation of the chart advancing means; of

means for releasing the brake mechanism of the first meter, and means on each meter responsive to the operation of the chart advancing means thereof -for releasing the brake mechanism of the next succeeding meter of the series.

4. 'Ihe combination with two electric meters each comprising a movable chart, means for producin a graphic record thereon, and means operalile when released to advance the chart; of means for releasingthe chart advancing means of the lirst meterat predetermined intervals, and means responsive to the operation of the chart advancing means of the first meter for releasing the chart advancing means of the second meter.

5. The combination of two electric recording meters, charts upon which the respective records are traced, a feed roll to advance each chart, spring means to operate each feed roll, a gear train to control the operation ot' each spring, and stop mechanism to maintain each gear train at rest, -with a clock to periodically release the stop mechanism from the first gear train, and a lever actuated by said first gear train whenI in motion to vrelease the stop mechanism from the .second gear train.

6. The combination with two electric recording meters each including a movable chart, a feed roll to advance the chart, a spring drum to turn the feed roll, a gear `train driven by the spring drum and comprisingga terminal wheel, a pin projecting from said wheel, and a pivoted dog carrying a stop 'movable into engagement with said pin to stop the rotation of said Wheel and gear train; of a cam on the irst meter to swing said dog to Withdraw said stop from engagement with said pin and thereafter permit said dog to move said stop back into the path of movement of said pin to stop the wheel after one revolution, means for revolving said cam, and means'o-perated by said first meter gear train when in motion to move the second meter dog to withdraw its stop from engagementJ with the pin on said second meter terminal wheel.

7. The combination with twoelectric recording meters each including a movable chart, a feed roll to advance the chart, a motor to turn the feed roll, and Ibrake mechanism to control the operation of the motor,

, of a clock tol release the brake mechanism of the lirstmeter at predetermined intervals, and a lever operated by said brake mechanism whenf released to release the brake mechanism ofthe second meter.

8. The combination with'two electric recording meters each includin 'av movable chant, a motor to advance the c art, a rotatable member driven by the motor. to control the operation thereof, and a dog,` normally to engage said member to prevent rotation thereof, of a clock to release the dog of the first meter at predetermined intervals, a wheel rotated by the motor of said first meter, a lever to release the dog of the second meter, and linkage interconnecting said lever and wheel and operated in response to movement of the latter, whereby the motor of the second meter will advance its chart in synchronism with the advance ofthe first chart.

9. The combination with two electric recording meters each including a movable chart, aimotor to advance the chart, a rotatable member driven by the motor to control the operation thereof, and a dog normally to engage said memberto prevent rotation thereof, of a clock to release the dog of the first meter, a cam wheel rotated by the motor of the first meter when operating to advance the chart, a pivoted lever riding in engagement with the periphery of said wheel and moved by irregularities on the surface thereof, a spring to maintain said engagement,

a second lever responsive to movement of the first lever to release the dog of the second, Auid adjustable guiding means to maintain predetermined relative' position between said second lever and dog.

. l0. The combination with two electric recording meters each including awmovable chart, a motor to advance the chart, a rotatable member driven bythe motor to control the operation thereof, anda dog normally to engage said member to prevent rotation thereof, of a clock to releasethe dog of the first meter, a cam Wheel rotated by the motor ofthe first meter when operating to advance the chart, a pivoted lever riding in engagement with the periphery of said Wheel and moved by irregularities `on the surface thereof, a second lever moved by operation of the first lever to release the second meter dog from its rotatable member, and means operable by said rotatable member during its revolution to restore said second lever to normal position whereby said second dog may return to normal position to stop said rotatable member.

11. The combination with two electric recording meters each including a movable chart, a motor to advance the chart, a rotatable` member driven bythe motor to ,controly the operation thereof, and a'dog normally to engage said member to prevent rotation thereof, of a clock to release the dog of the first meter, a cam wheel rotated by the motor of the first meter when operating to advance the chart, a pivoted lever riding in engagement with theperiphery of said Wheel and .Bip-

moved by irregularities on the surface there-K l of, a second lever moved by operation of the first lever to release the second meter dog fromy its rotatable member, a pin carried by Said second rotatable member, and a iin on said second lever brought into the path of movement of said pin by dog releasing movement oi said lever, said pin being adapted to strike said fur to restore said second lever to normal position. y

,HAROLD WAIT CARPENTER. Witnesses:

R. E. WATRoUs, J. BROWN. 

